Mary Rowlandson Captivity

Despite A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s basis in truth, Mary Rowlandson’s tale of captivity reveals she is guilty of thoroughly shaping her narrative for the sake of bolstering her personal perspective. This is not unusual in life writing. This interference does, however, necessitate great care when reading her work within The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. One’s comprehension of Rowlandson’s tale, while progressively warranting more complexity due to an increase in moral ambiguity, is initially dependent on her dichotomization of her characters within the castes of the virtuous Christian or the devilish savage. It is through her specific manipulation of diction and imagery in one of the initial scenes …show more content…
In calling her abductors “hell-hounds,” Rowlandson takes the extra step and equates them, not only to animals, but to animals derived from a demonic nature (Rowlandson 70). The choice of the word “hell-hound” is particularly striking considering its previous Old Saxon iteration, “hellihund,” translates to “devil” or “Satan’s assistant” (“Hellhound”). Regardless of Rowlandson’s etymological awareness, the use of a label such as “hell-hound” implies an inescapable infernality, just as how comparing herself and her peers to “a company of Sheep torn by Wolves” could potentially allude to certain Biblicisms (Rowlandson 70). Not only does the latter quotation refer to Native Americans in yet another animalistic fashion, but it represents Mary and her Christian peers as “the sheep of [God’s] pasture” (James). The words used within Rowlandson’s narrative create vivid images of demonic savagery and holy innocence which contrast with one another, setting these two groups of people at opposite ends of a spectrum. While the language that continues throughout the rest of the text may not be as colorful as that which was used in the excerpt discussed, this dichotomy between the innocent Christian and the devilish savage remains. However, it is important to remember that this effect is not achieved

Show More